BERLIN (Reuters) - German police unleashed water cannon and pepper spray in an effort to scatter thousands of protesters angry about a new legal framework for enforcing coronavirus restrictions passed by parliament on Wednesday.Protesters near Berlin’s landmark Brandenburg Gate threw bottles at police and set off smoke bombs, witnesses reported. Riot police detained some protesters while firing volleys of water and urging crowds by loudspeaker to disperse. Police detained 190 people and nine officers were injured. Demonstrators, including some far-right radicals, opposed legislation to enshrine in law powers to impose steps such as curbs on social contact, rules on mask-wearing, drinking alcohol in public and shutting shops. The aim of the amendment, drawn up by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government, is to prevent legal challenges to the measures that have so far mostly been enforceable at the state or local level. Although most Germans accept the latest “lockdown light” to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus in a second wave, critics say the amendment endangers citizens’ civil rights. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has compared the amendment with the 1933 Enabling Act that paved the way to Hitler’s Nazi dictatorship.